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0 now from the Firefox Add-ons Store. Is agave syrup good for you or is it just another form of sugar? Now commonly used as an alternative to sugar, honey or maple syrup, agave is a popular replacement for table sugar. Whether you’re looking for sweet substitutes, sugar-free baking guides or simply want to find out your recommended daily amounts, find all the answers in our sugar hub.
It’s versatile and easy to use, and popular for sweetening hot drinks, porridge or bakes. It can be used in place of syrups such as golden syrup, but because it’s sweeter than sugar, you’ll need less to achieve the same taste. It works well in chewy bakes like flapjacks, as well as sticky cakes and muffins. Although there are slightly more calories in agave than white sugar, you’ll need to use less than half the amount of agave to achieve the same sweetness, meaning fewer calories overall. Agave syrup is processed by heat, which alters raw agave’s natural nutrition values and lowers its antioxidant content. It therefore does not have a special nutritional profile and only contains small amounts of potassium, calcium and magnesium.
This means the body absorbs agave more slowly into the bloodstream and as a result does not cause such a rapid spike in insulin. Although this gives it its sweet taste, fructose is metabolised differently from glucose. Some people also have trouble absorbing fructose and may experience unpleasant side effects such as bloating or abdominal discomfort in sensitive individuals, particularly those with irritable bowel syndrome. If you’re prone to gastrointestinal discomfort, you may want to avoid agave.
The jury is out on whether agave is actually better for you than table sugar. It will have less of an immediate impact on your blood sugar levels due to its low GI score but the high fructose content may make it more difficult for your body to process. Some opponents of agave claim it is simply a condensed fructose syrup, with minimal nutritional value. If you’re a healthy individual and prefer the taste of agave, then it’s safe to use in moderation.
Have you swapped sugar for agave and noticed a difference? This article was last reviewed on 14 September 2021 by Kerry Torrens. Over the last 15 years, she has been a contributing author to a number of nutritional and cookery publications, including BBC Good Food. Association for Nutrition with a specialism in public health. If you have any concerns about your general health, you should contact your local health care provider. See our website terms and conditions for more information.
This website is published by Immediate Media Company Limited under licence from BBC Studios Distribution. Erythritol, small amounts of which occur naturally in some fruits, is about 60 to 70 percent as sweet as table sugar and has at most one-twentieth as many calories. Xylitol: This sugar alcohol, which occurs naturally in birch and some other plants, is about as sweet as table sugar and has about three-quarters of the calories. Neotame: We also rate this among the safest sugar substitutes, but taste problems limit its use. If you find that certain sugar substitutes taste best in different foods, you could keep several in your cupboard. The same lab that found that aspartame caused cancer also announced—but has not yet published—its findings that sucralose caused leukemia in mice that were exposed to it from before birth. Which sugar substitutes should you avoid?
Aspartame tops our list of sugar substitutes to avoid, because it caused cancer in three independent studies using laboratory rats and mice. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer and government agencies around the world, a chemical that has been shown to cause cancer in animals should be assumed to pose a cancer risk to humans. We also recommend avoiding saccharin because of evidence from human and animal studies, albeit inconsistent, that it may increase the risk of cancer. 1970s-era, industry-sponsored studies in rats suggested that it may cause cancer, and it lacks high-quality, modern-day safety studies. Which are the safest sugar substitutes for children?